Electronic counter



Feb. 5, 1952 J. L. LAWSON 2,584,720

ELECTRONIC COUNTER Filed Oct. 26, 1946 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Inventor: James L. Lawson,

His Attorney.

J. L. LAWSON ELECTRONIC COUNTER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 w E M 0 0 H m M m m Inventor: James L. Laws on,

His Attorney Feb. 5, 1952 Filed Oct. 26, 1946 X- 77 55. CONDUCT/N6 Patented Feb. 5, 1952 ELECTRONIC COUNTER James L. Lawson, Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York 7 Application October 26, 1946, Serial No. 706,036

My invention relates to electronic counters and more particularly to a new and improved electronic counter capable of countin extremely rapidly recurring pulses without sacrificing accuracy and without the necessity of maintaining critically close tolerances in circuit elements.

Mechanical registers or counting devices are in general use wherever the elapsed time during which they operate and reset in preparation for the next condition to be registered is suificiently small in comparison to the time interval between the incidents it must register. Definite limitations such as weight and inertia of the mechanical parts cannot be avoided and'as a result such mechanical devices become inaccurate and of little utility when attempting to count impulses of a high recurring rate.

Heretofore, electronic counters employing thermionic tubes have been used whereby an output pulse is produced at a rate which is some chosen submultiple of the impulse rate being counted. These output pulses may then be counted by a mechanical registering device. In this fashion, the range over which counting measurements may be made has been increased greatly. In countin electrical pulses occurring within a microsecond of each other, electrical reset time of previously known electronic counters becomes a limitation such that the present devices lose their accuracyand therefore their utility in that region. It is apparent that an electronic counter capable of counting pulses accurately whether occurring at an extremely high rate or at any other discontinuous rate is a needed and desirable device.

It is an object of my invention to providea new and improved electronic counter which is accurate in counting electrical pulses even though the pulses are occurring in extremely rapid succession and still maintaining its ability to count pulses however far separated individual pulses may be.

Another object of my invention is to provide a new and improved electronic counter capable of recording accurately pulses of extremely short duration over a greatly extended range of periodicity of the electrical pulses.

It is a further object of my inventionto provide a new and improved electronic counter whose accuracy is relatively independent of source voltage fluctuations or temperature and humidity effects upon circuit elements such as resistances and condensers.

The features of the invention which are believed to be novel and patentable will be pointed out in the claims appended hereto. r

2 Claims. (Cl. 23592) For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made in the following description to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l discloses a circuit which is one embodiment of my invention, Fig. 2 is a series of curves repre-- senting voltage variations in various tube elements when the circuit of Fig. 1 receives pulses to be counted and Fig. 3 is a tabular representation of the operating sequence of the circuit of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 a circuit is shown wherein one output pulse occurs for every ten input pulses. It will be understood that other desired ratios may be obtained without departing from the scope of my invention. The circuit shown includes, in general, amplifier and phase inverter stages, a flip-flop circuit with two conditions of stable equilibrium, a ring counter or multiple flip-flop circuit comprising, in the preferred embodiment, a series of five tubes so interconnected that only one of the tubes is in a conducting state at any time, and a multivibrator of the type generally referred to as a one-shot multivibrator. Rectifiers preferably of the germanium crystal type are used in the circuit for purposes to be described. However, rectifiers of other types such as diode tubes may also be employed.

The positive polarity pulses to be counted are impressed upon the control grid 2 of an amplifier and phase inverter thermionic tube I which is normally biased at or near cutoff. Cathode 3 of tube I is maintained at a fixed potential with respect to ground by connection to a suitable D. C. voltage source. Cathode 3 is also connected to ground through resistors 6 and l in series shunted by a bypass condenser 8. Control grid 2 having a grid current limiting resistor 8 in series therewith is maintained at proper bias voltage by connection to the junction between resistors 6 and 7 through a resistor I0. Input pulses are capacitively fed to grid 2 through a condenser II. If desired for impedance matching purposes the input terminals may be connected together through a resistor I2 by manually closing a switch I3. in series therewith. Screen grid 4 of tube I is maintained at the regulated B+ voltage by proper connection thereto and a bypass condenser I4 is provided between screen grid 4 and ground. Anode 5 of tube I is connected to 3+ through a plate resistor I5 which may be made electrically ineffectual in the anode circuit b a shorting switch I6 placed across resistor I5.

Thermionic tubes l1 and I8 with their associated elements constitute a stable flip-flop circuit of the type which requires external trig- 3 gering for each change from one condition to the other. Cathodes i9 and as or tubes ii and i8 respectively are both connected to ground through a common path consisting of serially connected resistors El and 23, one of which, resistor 2?, being preferably of much lower re-' sistance than resistor 23, is shunted by a biasing and bypass condenser 2%. Screen grids 2i and 22 of tubes I? and 18 are maintained at 13+ potential and anode 23 of tube i? is connected to 13+ through a resistor 3c and anode 2e ortube i3 is connected to B+ through resistors 31' and in series. Control grid '25 of tube ll isconnected to anode 24 of tube l8 through a resistor 33 which is shunted by a condenser 35 and also connected to ground'through a resistor 35. Likewise, control grid 26 of tube is is cross connected to anode 23 of tube it through a resistor 35- which is shunted by a condenser 3'5. Control grid 26 is also normally connected to ground through serially connected resistors as, 39, and 4G, and a normally closed switch M. Resistor ii) and switch {ii in series is shunted bya condenser ii. A connection between anode 23 of tube i! and anode of tube 1 is provided through a rectifier 3 connected to. offer minimum opposition to current flow when anode is at a higher potential than anode Similarly, a connection between anode 24 of tube ii; and anode 5 of tube i is provided through a rectifier M connected to ofier minimum opposition to current flow when anode 2 1 is at a higher potential than anode 5. Rectifiers d5 and so are so connected between the ungrounded terminal or resistor 23 and grids and it of tubes l? and 13 respectively in such direction that mini mum opposition to current flow by the rectifier concerned occurs if the grid is lower in potential than the potential or the ungrounded terminal of resistor 28.

A portion of the voltage variation of anode 2d of tube is, such as that across resistor 32 in series with anode 24, is capacitively coupled to the control grid at of a normally conductingisolating and phase inverter tube 48 by means of a condenser 49. Control gridfii is also connected to ground through a resistor 58 while the cathode 5i Anode 52: and screen grid 53 are made common to operate the tube as a triode and connected to 3+ through a resistor 5s. The variation vol"- age of anode 52 is made available for control to the lower portion of Fig. l by capacitively coupling anode 52 to lead 55 by a condenser 58.

Thermionic tubes 5?, 58, 59, iii} and Si are so interconnected that only one of the tubes is in a conductive state at any particular time and by proper impulses upon lead 55 the conductive state may be transferred from one tube to the next in a sequence chosen by proper connections between them. The cathodes $2, '53, 84, E5 and S6 of tubes 5i, 5&3, 5e, and 6! respectively are connected to ground through a single voltage divider common to all cathodes. Resistors 61 and 68 in series constitute the voltage divider and lead 55 is connected to the junction of resistors 5'! and 58. The screen grids 69, iii, H, 12 and T3 of tubes 52', 58, 59, 8c and Bi respectively are each maintained at B+ potential by connection thereto.

resistances; anode M through resistorlfi, anode 15 through resistor 80, anode 76 through re of tube 48 is grounded directly.

Each anode is connected to 3+ through a separate resistance or.

shunted by resistors and 86 in series. In addition, each anode is connected to each of the control grids of the remaining tubes through separate resistances and is capacitively coupled to only one control grid, namely the control grid of the next tube chosenin any sequential order.

In the circuit shown, anode id of tube 5'! is capacitively connected to control grid 88 of tube 58 by condenser 92 and in similar fashion anode E5 of tube 58 to control grid 8% of tube as by condenser 93, anode is or tube 59 to control grid Sil of tubetll by condenser s4, anode ii of tube 69 to control grid 9i of tube ill by condenser $5, and anode T8 of tube ill to control grid "3? of tube 57 by condenser 95. Each anode oi tubes Ti to 61 is also connected through a separate resistor to each of the control grids of the other tubes in the group. Thus, anode i i or tube 57 is connected through resistor to grid to of tube 58, through resistor to grid or tube 59 through resistor 99 to grid or tube 58 and through resistor Hill to grid iii of tube 5!".

In addition to the connections from control grids to anodes, each control grid of tubes-iii" to it is connected to ground through a separate resistance path of adjustable ohmic value. Thus, control grid 8? of tube 57 is connected to ground through resistors Hi and in series, grid 88 of tube 58 through resistor H8, grid 89 of tube 59 through resistor H9, grid as or tube Bi; through resistor i233, and grid 9i of tube 61 through resistor i2i. Rectifiers r22, iZt, [2 3, and I26 are connected between lead ESand control grids 8?, 88, 89, at and 31 respectively, in such direction that the rectifiers become conductive ii the control grid voltage is negative with respect to lead 55. Lead 55 is maintained at a voltage very close to the cathode voltage by connection thereto through a low value resistor 61, which may be of the order or onetwentieth the resistance of resistor 68.

An indicating device such as meter 12? prererably of the milliammeter type is provided for use in indicating Which tubes in the counting circuit are in a conducting state. One terminal of meter 12? is maintained at an essentially constant voltage by connection to the junction between serially connected resistors IZ'B and I2? which constitute a voltage divider connected between 3+ and ground. The other meter terminal is connected to the anodes '55, i6, Ti and 13 through respective adjustable resistors L38, l3l, I32, and 133 and, in addition, is connected through an adjustable resistor i34 to the junction of serially connected resistors i35 and I38 which resistors constitute a voltage divider connected between anode 23 of tub-e ii and ground. Resistors i3!) to H4, inclusive, are each adjusted to a desired value such that, for example, unit current flows through resistor 23:2 when tube ii is conducting, twice. unit current flowsthrough resistor I36 when tube 58 is conducting, four times unit current through resistor ifii, and so on. In each resistor, current flow is made essentially zero when the tube is nonconducting by proper choice of ohmic values in resistors I28 and I29.

The double triode tube 131 is employed in e one-shot multivibrator circuit of such type that duction to the otherhalf.

of tube I31 are groundedthrough a biasing re-;

one half is normally conducting and returns automatically to the conducting state after an external triggering pulse has transferred con- Cathodes it?! and 139- sistor [40. Control grid M! of the first half of tube I3! is capacitively coupled to the anode circuit of tube BI by connecting a condenser I42 between the junction of resistors 85 and 86and grid I4I. Grid MI is also connected to ground through a grid resistor I43. Also grid MI is essentially prevented from becoming negative with respect to ground by connecting a recifier I44 between grid I4I and ground. Anodes I45 and I46 are connected to 13-!- through respective plate resistors i4? and I43. Control grid I49 of the second half of tube I3! is 'capacitvelycoupled to anode I45 by a condenser I50 and is'also connected to the junction of resistors I5I and I52 which resistors constitute a voltage'divider connected between 3+ and ground. Voltage variation of anode I45 is made available between output terminals I53 and I54 by; connecting terminal I53 to ground and terminal I54 .to anode I46 through a condenser I55. The volt-- age variation of anode '38 of tube 6| is made available between an output terminal I56 and terminal I 53 by connecting terminal I56 through a condenser I51 to the junction between resistors 83 and 84.

A regulated D. C. voltage supply may be obtained by impressing any unregulated D. C. source such as battery I58 across a circuit consisting of a resistor 59, a voltage regulator tube I63, and a voltage regulator tube I5i in series in the order named. A regulated D. C. voltage is available across tube H5! for biasing tube I while a regulated D. C. voltage of greater magnitude is available across tubes I63 and IEI in series for supply to the various anodes and screen grids of the tubes utilized.

The principles of and the method of operation of the circuit shown in Fig. 1 may be set forth in the following manner. When the circuit is properly energized and no input pulses are impressed upon the input terminals, either of tubes I1 and I8 but not both will be in a conducting state and any one but only one of tubes 5?, 56, 59, 50 and 6| will be in a conducting state. Slight dissymmetries in circuit elements or tube characteristics may determine the state of the circuit when first energized. It is immaterial, however, what condition is initially present-since the system may be set to proper conditions by opening momentarily the normally closed switch 4I thereby allowing grid 25 of tube l8 and grid 87 of tube 5'! to drift toward a positive potential with respect to their respective cathodes thereby causing tubes I8 and 51 to conduct which in turn as will be explained, causes tubes i1, 58, 59, 66 and (H to be in a nonconducting state.

The amplifying and phase inverter circuit including the normally nonconducting tube I receives positive pulses impressed upon its grid and if switch It is open as indicated causes the voltage of anode 5 to decrease in corresponding pulse manner from its normal value at or near B+ voltage. This is illustrated by the properly identified curve of Fig. 2. Cathode 3 of tube I is maintained at a fixed potential thereby eliminat circuit. By employing a high"resistancein r.e-,,.'.

6 sistor. 9, grid 2' of tube I will be essentially prevented from becoming positive with respect to cathode 3 of tube -I because of voltage drop in resistor 9 caused by grid current flow when grid 53 2 tends to become positive. Thus, a series of positive pulses of unequal magnitude but none of which are smaller in magnitude than the bias voltage of tube I may be impressed across the input terminals and the resulting negative anode pulses will be of essentially equal magnitude by virtue of the described grid clipping action.

The flip-flop circuit including tubes I7 and I8 is initially or is made to be such that tube IB is conducting and tube I] is nonconducting.- The potentialof anode 23 is then essentially at 3+ and anode 24 is at some lower voltage. The cathodes i9 and are biased positively by plate current of tube I3 flowing through resistors 2? and 28. The voltage divider between anode 24 and ground consisting f resistors 33 and in series holds grid 25 of tube H at or just below cutoff when tube I8 is conducting or when anode 25 is at its lower voltage value. Likewise, the voltage divider between anode 23 and ground consisting of resistors 36, 38, 39 and 4B in series hold grid 26 of tube I8 above cutofi' value when anode 23 is essentially at 13+ potential thereby allowing tube I8 to remain in a conducting state. Since the circuit is symmetrical these voltage dividers are similar as to resistance values, and if tube I! is conducting andtube I8 is nonconducting grid voltages at grids 25 and 26 are likewise interchanged by action of these voltage dividers.

Condensers 34 and 31 are required since the interelectrode capacitance of the grid would otherwise prevent grid voltage from being dependent upon the change in voltage across the voltage divider and may for very rapidly repeating pulses, as for example pulses separated by less than a microsecond or extremely short pulses regardless of pulse repetition rate, cause the grid voltage to remain unaffected thereby rendering the circuit inaccurate and practically useless as a counting device. It can be shown that there is a critical value which condensers 34 and 31 must.

exceed in order to assure proper operation of, the

circuit. This may be expressed as:

Condenser 31 charges to a voltage equal to the voltage drop across resistor 36 and condenser 34 to that across resistor 33. When tube I8 is conducting, condenser 31 is charged to a greater value than is condenser 34 since greater total voltage appears across the voltage divider of which resistor 35 is a part than across the one embracing resistor 33. If tube I'I becomes conducting instead of tube I8, the reverse condition exists and condenser 31 must be discharged to some extent and condenser 34 additionally charged before normal static conditions are obtained. Therefore, unless correcting means are introduced, during any transition the grid of the tube becoming nonconducing is driven far beyond cutoii and returns to the desired position at or just below .cutofi with a definite time lag as its condenser 34 and 3'! is discharged. This is illustrated by the curve of Fig. 2 labelled grid 26 without rectifier. This time lag or recovery 75. time is; objectionable since the, circuit may be:

creased. However, resistors 33 and 36 must be. fixed portions of their respective voltage dividers.

and it is necessary to use: voltage dividers of sufficient total resistance: to; prevent them from alfectihg the anode voltages of the tubes to. which they are connected. Thus, other means. must. be sought in decreasing: the recovery time. of the circuit.

An efficient means for materially decreasing.

the recovery time, which is believed to; be novel, is by the use of rectifiers which become. conductive when the grid is below cutofi value of the tube. Thus, if grid 25 is driven negatively and grid 25 positively as by applying a negative pulse to anode 23 of tube it, a discharge path for condenser 32, in parallel with resistor 36, is provided through rectifier d6, resistor 27 shunted by condenser 25!, and through tube H which is now in a conducting state. Likewise, when grid 25 is driven below cutofl, condenser as may be discharged through rectifier 45, resistor 22' shunted by condenser 29, and tube 18 which is at that instant in a conducting state. It should be noted that grids 25 and 28 are restored to a voltage dependent upon the instantaneous voltage of the cathodes which may be shifting in voltage with respectto a reference such as ground potential. Thus, the grids are not necessarily restored to a fixed voltage value but instead to a changing value, which at any instant, differs'frcrn the in stantaneous cathode voltage by the dos. amount. Thus, the circuit is very quickly ready to operate satisfactorily in response to the next succeeding pulse. The curves of Fig. 2 labeled grid 25 and grid 26* illustrate the voltage variation of the grids as afiected by rectifiers and 46.

Triggering or the flip-flop circuit is accomplished by connecting anodes 23' and 24 to anode ii of tube i through respective rectifiers 43 and $4 and occurs in the following fashion. Resistor E is made small with respect to either resistor 38 or resistors 3i and 32, in series, so as to minimize the 11 day.

effect on anode 5 voltages when rectifiers 3 and 4d become conducting. Also, thevoltage variation anode 5 of tube I is made to be approximately halt the voltage v riation of anodes 23 and 25 of tubes i! and [8 for reasons to be stated Initially, tube It is conducting. or is made so by manipulation of switch ll. Anode 23 of tube l! is at essentially B+ voltage as is also anode 5 of tube i. Anode 24 is below B+ voltage because of current flow through plate resistors 3| and 32 in series. When a positive pulse is impressed upon grid 2 of tube l, anode 5 moves in a negative direction to a point essentially hah way between 13-:- and anode 24 voltage. Anode 23 is also moved with anode 5 by action of rectifier #3. Grid 2 3 of tube [8 is thereby driven negatively and current flow in tube is is decreased to essentially zero. Anode 24 therefore increases in voltage since current fiow through resistors 31 and 32 in series is decreased. However, anode 24 cannot become positive with respect to anode ii of tube l because of rectifier M. When anode 24 increases in voltage, so also grid 25 0f tube IT increases to. the-same extent andtubel 1 becomes.v

conductive, thereby causing anode; 23 to decrease to a voltageessentially equal to the; voltage for.- merly maintained. at: anode: 34:. At: the end of the. negative pulse on anode Eoftube I,..the voltage. of anode 24, as well. as that of; anode: 5-, is" allowed to increase to essentially B-llvalue. It isnow apparent; that the voltage variation. of anode 5 of tube. I cannot be made. equal. to that of anodes 23 and 234. since: the negativepulse; of anode 5 must notonly drive grid 26 negatively but must also. allow grid to increase positively- Grid 25 would. remain unaffected. by the pulse if anode. 5 decreased in. voltage to: apointe'qualllng anode 24 voltage.

Each time the grid 25 is movedin'a positive. di.-- rection, which. occurs: twice. for each alternate pulse, namely, at the beginning and at theend of each alternate pulse, ashas. been pointed out, tube ll" becomes conductive to a value more than is desired normal valueuntil condenser 361 is able. to charge up to the higher value required when the voltage divider consisting of resistors 33 and in. series is subjected to essentially the total D. C. 13+ voltage. This condition also exists for grid 25.. and the conductivity of tube 18 at the time of the next succeeding pulse or series of such alternate pulses. Therefore, complete self biasing of the cathodes of tubes I! and it, as by utilizing. a condenser between cathodes and ground, is not desirable, one reason among others, bein that the cathode bias would shift. upwardly as the pulse repetition rate increased. Thus, resister .28 is provided without being shunted by acondenser. This allows the cathode voltage to increase momentarily during conditions of greater tube current flow, but the cathodes. will return to the proper and original value when condensers 3 or 3! have again received their proper charge. In addition, a condenser across resistor 25 would slow down the tendency of the cathodes to return to their normal value. If such a condenser were used it is possible, particularly for short pulses of a high repetition rate, that. the grid potential of the tube made conductive by external triggerin may-decrease more rapidly than the cathode volt age so as to cause it to become nonconducting without external pulsing and thereby automatically triggering the other tube. Since resistor 23 is common to both tubes, the triggered tube may operatesimilarly so as to retrigger the original tube. This undesirable unstable condition in tubes I! and is may be avoided by minimizing the capacitance across resistor 23.

Voltage variations of the various elements of tubes l! and 18 with respect to any reference.

for example, ground,.are shown in Fig. 2. The dotted alternative portions of the grid voltage variation curves illustrate the grid voltage varia-- tion which would result if rectifiers and 46.

were removed from the circuit. By inspection of the curves at the time indicated by n, it is evident that if the next succeeding pulse were to begin at time h, tube It would not be made conductive since-grid 26 or tube It would not be driven above cutofi if the restoring action of rectifier 45 is absent. Similarly, in the absence of rectifier E5 tube I? could not be made conductive at the time indicated bytz. Since it is desirable to render the circuit susceptible to all pulses even .though closely spaced as would result in extremely high pulse repetition rates, it is evident that thepresence of rectifiers 45 and 46 greatly improves the performance of. the circuit- The: normally conducting thermionic tube 48 11s operatedatzerorbias andioperates as. a com-- bination amplifier, phase inverter,- 'and'clipper. Clipper action is accomplished'by driving the grid far below cutoff with a very short RC time .con-

stant grid circuit and-utilizing grid current flow during positive swings to prevent the grid .from

f becoming materially positive with respect to .the

' anode and thereby having little efiect on plate current during such positive swings. Accordingly, anode 52 of tube 48 provides a positive pulse of short duration each time tube I8 becomes conductive, i. e., a positive pulse for every two input pulses. Negative pulses of anode-52,

, if present, are insufiicient in magnitudeto afiect the circuit subjected thereto.

The circuit associated with tubes 51 to Iii, in-

' clusive, may be explained as follows. ,If, after through proper resistors to ground and to each .of the anodes of the other tubes.

These resistors act like an equivalent voltage divider which is subjected to either the total D. C. B+ voltage as when the four other anodes are all at 3+ or to a smaller voltage as when three anodes are at r B+ but the fourth is at some lower value. All

- tubes are biased to the same degree since all cathodes are connected together. so chosen by choice of resistors 51 and 68 such that the lower grid voltage value is below cutoff The bias value is and the higher grid voltage is above cutoff. Since the bias is obtained by current fiow through the tubes themselves, at least one tube must be conducting. Further, if one tube conducts,-the grid voltage of the conducting tube is higher than that of any other grid, since its grid is the only one connected to anodes all of which are essentially at B+ voltage, thereby assuring its continued conduction. Furthermore, all other grids will be below cutoff thereby maintaining those tubes in a nonconductive state.

When a positive pulse of short duration is impressed upon lead 55 all cathodes will be correspondingly raised in voltage. The conducting tubeis thereby cut oil and its anode voltage will.

becomes conductive andremains so to the exclusion of others after lead 55 returns to normal. Thus, if tube 5? is initially conducting, a pulse at lead causes it to be cut off and its anode increases in voltage thereby raising the voltage of grid 88 of tube 58 by virtue of the coupling condenser 92.

When tube 58 becomes conductive, its anode I5 decreases in voltage. Thus, grid 89 of tube 59 is similarly decreased momentarily below its normal cut ofi value because of coupling condenser 93. Its rate of return to normal value is dependent upon the values of condenser 93 and resistor IllI. These values must satisfy conditionssimilar to those discussed relative to condensers 34 and 31 and resistors 33 and 36 of tubes I! and I8 and the discharge time of condenser 93 must be decreased since tube 59 is the next tube in the sequence to be made conductive. As beadore and for the same reasons, a rectifier I24 is providedl'whereby condenser 93 is allowed a discharge path, in addition to resistor IIlI, through rectifier I24, resistor 51, and the conducting tube .58. The grid circuit of each tube is similarly provided with rectifiers insuring essentially instantaneous return of grid voltage to normal after being driven beyond cutoff. Thus, tubes 5? to 5|, inclusive, will conduct in sequence with the conductive condition being shifted one step for each positive pulse impressed on lead 55 progress- "ing around the ring from tube 5! t0 EI in sequenceand returning to 57 from 6 I.

The metering or counting circuit including meter I 21 operates in the following manner. One

terminal of meter I2? is maintained at a voltage .meter [2! when tube ii is conductive.

equal to the anode voltage of tubes 58 to 6!, inc1u- 'sive, when such tubes are in a nonconductive .state.

This is accomplished by proper choice of resistors I28 and I 29 which constitute a voltage divider between 13+ and ground. A voltage divider consisting of resistors I35 and I36 in series is connected between anode 23 of tube I1 and ground and is so proportioned that the voltage at the junction of resistors I35 and I86 equals the voltage of the junction between resistors E28 and I29 when tube I? is nonconductive. Thus, no

current flows through resistor Ifi when tube I? is nonconductive.

Resistor I3! is adjusted to allow unit current flow through it and through Similarly, no current flows through resistors it!!! to I33, inelusive, when tubes 58 to SI, inclusive, are nonconductive. Resistor I3l is adjusted to allow 'two times unit current flow through it and through -meter I2! when tube 58 is conducting. Resistors i3I to 33, inclusive, are similarly adjusted; four times unit current through I3I, six times unit current through I32, and eight times unit current through resistor 533. Thus, depending upon which tubes among ii and 58 to 6|, inclusive, are conductive, meter I27 carries and indicates a current which is any number of whole units be tween zero and nine, inclusive. This is shown in tabular form by Fig. 3. Fig. 3 also indicates the sequence in which the various tubes become con- 'ductive. I f

The double triode tube I31 and associated elements constitute a multivibrator of the type re- ;quiring a positive pulse to make the first half conductive and which automatically after a short interval of time returns the first half to a nonconductive state. This time interval is dependfent upon the values of condenser I50 and resistors 5t and 552, all of which elements afiect the grid ijof; the second half of tube I31. The anode of the is'ecqndihalf isthereby pulsed positively fora fixed time'interval for each'pos'itive pulse'on the grid of the first half. This pulse may be made available to output terminals by capacitive coupling between the anode and one of such terminals.

When tube GI becomes conductive, anode 18 decreases in voltage and grid ll of tube I3! is driven negatively. Such a negative pulse on grid I'GI does not affect tube It? since the firsL half of tube I3! is already in a nonconductive state. When tube 6| is cut off, grid I4! is driven positively thereby causing the first half to be conductive and causing anode his to increase in voltage. Thus, a positive pulse appears at the output terminals each time tube 5i is made nonconductive. To insure readiness of grid MI to cause the first half of tube I3! to become conductive immediately after it has been pulsed negatively, "a rectifier i1 I44 is providedthrough which condenser i iztmay discharge-When grid MI is beyond cutofi.

The circuit disclosed produces a positive output pulse for every ten positive inputpulses. It will be understood that a factor of two,--.four, :six, or eight .might also be obtained by use of .correspondingly fewer tubes. For any of thornssible ratios, my invention may be used to increase the response rate and will be as necessary in these circuits as in the originally described circuit.

An auxiliary output circuit may be energized directly from theanode circuit of tube 6 l. 'Itm'ay be'preferable to employ individual voltage dividers in parallel in the plate circuit of tube 6| :so :as to isolate the two output circuits from each :other as'tc the effects of output load on the plate circuit of tube 6]. The auxiliary output circuit might be used, for example, to supply input .pulses to a circuit exactly identical with the described circuit. If mechanical registers are employed to measure theoutput of each of such'in'terconnected circuits, one register would read tens,'the other hundreds, while meter i2] would read units.

I have employed, a circuit of the type described :andihave found it capable of accurately recording pulses as short as .05 microsecond duration and also capable of recording a series of pulses of varying length even though separated .byintervals as small as 0.1 microsecond.

As will occur to-those skilled inthe art, various difierent arrangements and combinations of the principles described above may be employed without departing .from the true spirit and scope of the invention, andl therefore do not wish'to limit my invention to'lthe particular arrangement described.

What .I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

.1. In combination, a plurality of thermionic tubes possessing electrodes including a control electrode,.a cathode and an anode, meansfor connecting the anode of each tube through-a separate impedance to the positive ,lead of a direct :current source :and all cathodes through a common impedance to the negative lead of such source, a plurality of voltage divider circuits formed by connections from the control grid of each tube to the anodes oi the remaining tubes-of said plurality, each through a separate non-capacitive impedance and connections from each control electrode to the negative lead of said source 1 2 =cathodes-.-ofsaid plurality of tubes: and rectifying means for each tube of said plurality of tubes :connectedfrom thecontrol electrodeof such tube to a-tap onsaidrimpedance common to-all cathodes :of said plurality of tubes for'providinga discharge :path for the coupling capacitor associated 'withsuch :tube'when the voltage on the control electrode-of such tube is below a desired value.

2. A flip-flop circuit comprising first and second thermionic tubes each having an anode, a control electrode, and a cathode, positive and negative terminals for connection to a direct voltage source, load resistors connected between said positive terminal and respective ones of said anodes, said cathodes being connected together,

first and second cathode resistor connected in series inthe order named between said cathodes andsaid negative terminal, a capacitor connected inparallel with said first cathode resistor, said second cathode resistor having no capacitor in parallel therewith, a resistor and a capacitor in parallelconnected between'the anode of said first tube :and the-control electrode of said second tube,

a resistor and-a capacitor in parallel connected said control electrodes are at negative potential relative to said circuit junction.

JAMES L. LAWSONJ REFERENCES CITED The following references are of .record in the file oflthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,762,712 Charlton June 10, 1930 1,972,535 Page Sept-4, 1934 1,995,890 Lord, ,Mar. 26, 1935 2,113,011 White F Apr. 5, 1938 2,405,664 Mumma Aug. 13,1946 2,405,843 Moe, Aug. 13, 1946 2,409,689 ,Morton Oct. 22, 1946 2,410,156 Flory Oct. 29, 1946 2.420516 Bischoff l May 13, 1947 2,470,716 .,Overbeck May .17, 19.49

-FOREIGN PATENTS *Number Country Date "572,884 Great l3ritain Oct. 29, 1945 

